What good is Nitrox if your SAC sux?

[Docc]

Oh were speaking financially.. Docc who is filling your doubles for the price of one? I will bring mine to ya... I only get them filled by the cubic ft.

I usually fill my own.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

I usually fill my own.

After the last several post I wont touch this one

 

[Docc]

After the last several post I wont touch this one

 

[Cave Diver]

I wonder where they fly it from?

The flag pole.

D'uh!

 

[ONESPEED]

So to recap, if your sac isn't all it should be nitrox can help your sundial to read high noon....

 

[mike_s]

So to recap, if your sac isn't all it should be nitrox can help your sundial to read high noon....

that and eating Lionfish Fritters..... as Lionfish are known as an aphrodisiac

 

[Deefstes]

Thanks for all the good responses (and the laughs). I won't respond to all the individual posts but here's what I'm taking away from this:
1. Continuous dive training is never a bad thing. Even if I don't benefit from Nitrox for my current type of diving, the training should be interesting and fun and the knowledge will be useful, one way or another.
2. My diving is mostly done with operators who determine the SI and there will ALLWAYS be non-EAN divers. Combined with the fact that EAN will typically not extend my bottom time by much either, maybe some other course is more appropriate at this stage. CMAS Rescue Diver perhaps? Sounds like a more useful course anyway.

Again, thanks for all the comments.

 

[sguft]

Deefstes: When going on a liveaboard tour I allways use nitrox as we are typically doing 4 dives a day for 5-6 days in a row and usually some of the first dives will be to 30+ metres. If I didn't use nitrox on these dives I would not have much bottom time available and I would have an increased risk of DCS. So for me, it comes down to more bottom time and more safety. I allways have the crew make a blend that fits the depth and profile of the dive, so for the early dives of the day where we may reach a max of 40m, I'll usually go for a 28% mix - this will give me a couple of more minutes and when the guys on air starts to reach their NDL, I'll follow along and still be comfortably within my limit. At the later shallower dives I may be going for a 32% or 36% mix, thus I'll have plenty of bottom time and not absorb that much nitrogen on these dives.

But when just doing a single dive or two in a weekend, I'll usually just use air.

So it mostly depends on how many dives you plan to be doing on your trip.
If going on a liveaboard I'll recommend you take the nitrox course.

 

[Deefstes]

Yes, that's a good point, thanks. I've thought of it before that if ever I do go on a liveaboard trip (and I do plan on doing so sooner rather than later) I will certainly not go before having done Nitrox, for the very reasons you pointed out.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Deefstes: When going on a liveaboard tour I allways use nitrox as we are typically doing 4 dives a day for 5-6 days in a row and usually some of the first dives will be to 30+ metres. If I didn't use nitrox on these dives I would not have much bottom time available and I would have an increased risk of DCS.

While the details slowly came out to lead me to believe you are not pushing the ndl's too much on your liveaboard trips, the less trained or read members may get the wrong idea from the first couple sentences here.

If you are pushing ndl's when you extend those bottom times with EAN you are still pushing ndl's. Saturated is saturated, no mater what koolade got you there. In that situation the shorter surface interval is due the next tank, not the one you just sucked down. A liveaboard trip where you push EAN ndl's 3 times a day is not statistically going to decrease the chances of DCS as far as any credible study I've ever heard of.

At one end of the scale nitrox should be healthier; treating the dive as if it were air. The other end of the scale is extending bottom times and pushing nitrox tables ndl's; which should have the same health issues as pushing air ndl's with air. There is middle ground where you should be healthier and you gain a little bottom time.

I am a big believer in positive attitude so if one believes diving EAN is healthier, that possibly faith placebo should tip the scales statistically, but only for the true believer!